New Zealand Ironman Race Report - Better Late Than Never.

Rules, Rules, Rules.

The new rules made for interesting racing this year at the New Zealand Ironman race.  The new 10 metre rule was well talked about.  I was to discover some rules were still being changed the afternoon before the race.

Due to Achilles issues and 8 weeks of no running, I knew I was never going to be able to run the full marathon.  Next best option - film my race.  I scanned the rules, couldn't find any rule against filming and even asked.  So, with my new GoPro and emails from Ironman NZ and Tri NZ saying there was no rule against it, I was set to go.  However,  Friday afternoon JUST after I had racked my bike I received a phone call informing me that the Ironman corporation had made a decision that no cameras were allowed. Silly rule really!

Beautiful start to the day!

RACE DAY  

After many years of bad weather, today made up for all of them! Lake Taupo was flat, warm, calm and extremely clear.  I started slow, got into a good rhythm and was even managing to swim pretty straight.  I was actually enjoying the swim until some plonker, who had all the room in the world, decided to grab my wrist and pull me down.  He was wearing a yellow cap, 40-44 age group?

Where in the rules does it say you are allowed to do that?  It certainly rattled me and I guess that was his intention.  I was happy to finally reach the shore and see the clock say 59 minutes.  That is a personal best for me.

The run to T1 was a long one but with the crowd 3-4 deep the time flew by.  T1 was uneventful.

Biking along the foreshore, I could see a bunch just ahead of me and was torn between chasing them down or starting slow.  I chose to start slow and ease my way up the hill, as it turned out everyone else had the same idea.  As I was approaching the main road to Reperoa, still going up hill leaving Taupo, I saw someone get busted for blocking (he was riding beside or just behind another competitor and made no effort to pass).  It was reassuring to see the rules being followed through.  From that point on I made a conscious decision to ride on my own.  I thoroughly enjoyed the ride out and back, the first 90km was my fastest including my Half Ironman times.  

End of Lap One, All Going Well

End of Lap Two, Finally!!!

 The second lap wasn't so pretty, I missed a gel and struggled to key off anyone as very few athletes were in sight.  It wasn't until I reached an aid station where I got a bottle of coke that things came right.

It was a relief to finally reach T2.  Biking on my own meant I had too much time to assess things like my head over heating in my aero helmet.  It was such a great feeling to finally take it off.  I took my time through T2 and eased my way onto the run course. 

Start of the marathon

Easy to smile at the beginning

Again, I wanted to start slow and saw a bunch about 50 metres up the road.  I was wondering, do I chase and run with them or stick to my plan?  Interestingly, the gap stayed the same for quite some time.  During the early stages my main focus was to keep my body temperature down by grabbing as much ice as I could from the aid stations.  I was able to run for 33km, then my legs locked up.  It was an enjoyable walk home, the crowds could see my arm bands and appreciated I didn't have far to go.  The highlight of the whole race was the crowds cheering in the last km.

 

  Walking down the finishing straight was amazing; I only wish I had my camera to record it.

Later on that night Danielle and I went back to cheer home the athletes finishing in the last hour.  It was great to see Bevan Docherty mixing with the crowd.

Here is a short video of the last athlete to finish under the 17hr time cut off and become an Ironman.

Auckland 70.3 Half Ironman Race Report – A Gentleman’s Race

 This was the first time this race was being held so I was looking forward to a different course.

Danielle had organised some excellent accommodation which meant we were only a few minutes walk from transition. On race morning, I was able to get my gear set up quickly and with time to spare was able to admire all the different bike setups.  Most people were carrying two bottles, some one, I went for a three.  I believe my age group (male 35-39) were the luckiest age group in the entire field, we started straight after the pros. Pro men 6:30am, Pro women 6:33 and then us 6:38.

Getting ready for my wave start

The sea was warm and calm, though a little murky.  It was one of the most pleasant swims I have experienced, very little bumping. The five turns actually broke up the course and added to the pleasurable experience.  Being on the inside of a group as we approach a buoy is one of my pet hates, yet during this race when I was on the inside preparing myself to be swum over, it didn’t happen, the others stayed wide of me.

Spread out nicel

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?  This means, when I race and people are bashing into me, I now know they are not from my age group, the male 35-39 age group must be one of the most considerate age groups that race J.  Good work guys!

T1 was uneventful and I was quickly on the bike making my way north via the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  The climb up wasn’t too bad; I really struggled with my tri spoke and a slight cross wind going down the other side.  The time lost on the descent was quickly made up on the flat and through the hills.  The north loop was fantastic, fast smooth roads with a tail wind and the little loop through the streets brought out the spectators, even at 7am.  I was getting used to the tri spoke and was able to enjoy the ride back to the bridge with a head/cross wind.  Once over the bridge again we had to weave our way through some streets while crossing wet tram tracks as it had started drizzling.  The south side of the course was along the beach front and back twice.  The ride out with the tail wind was magic.  The first lap I rode with no one around and it was hard to gauge my effort/pace.  During the second lap there were a lot of other age groupers on the course and trying to catch them helped maintain some urgency.

 

I took my time with T2 as I was in no rush to start running.   The course went through the waterfront apartments then out a few kilometres and back.  We did this twice.  Like on the bike, when I started the run there weren’t many athletes on course, so when I acknowledged the spectators cheers they then cheered me on even more which was fantastic.  I did what I could during the run but it was always going to be a case of survival.  As I was running back for the last time, I looked at my watch as I passed the last aid station, 18km. I thought, only three kilometres to go, so I didn’t take anything from the aid station.  When my watch beeped at 22kms and I still wasn’t close to the finish line, I blew mentally.  Some say the run was 22.5km, others 23km.  My Garmin said 22.6kms.  That being said, it was a great day out and I’ll be back next year.

2012 Ironman Race Report

It all came down to a few seconds …

	Overall Time	Swim	T1	Bike	T2	Run	1st 5km avg	2nd 5kms avg	3rd 5kms avg	Last 6km avg	Overall Run avg
Andy	4:41:09	35:25	7:38	2:32:44	1:32	1:23:50	4:11	3:58	4:04	3:43	3:58
Susie	4:41:33	33:18	4:06	2:25:23	1:09	1:37:37	4:41	4:36	4:52	4:22	4:37
Ed	4:41:40	34:04	5:20	2:23:36	2:29	1:36:11	4:48	4:35	4:39	4:15	4:33

Where to start?

I could easily write a blog entry about the weather – a ‘weather bomb’ cancelled the full Ironman race on Saturday and the organisers held a half Ironman on Sunday.

I could also easily write about the emotions I went through, from the highs of going through registration and getting my number on Thursday to the lows of hearing the race was cancelled.  Sunday morning I woke and just wanted the weekend to be over as all my eggs had been in the ‘long slow distance’ basket and having to race a half didn’t excite me, very similar to one Mr Cameron Brown!

The key difference between this half, and other halves in NZ, is that this one was offering Kona tickets!!!!!

On race morning I went through the motions, got ready and racked my bike then headed down to the lake. 

The Swim – I don’t know what to say, I used to pride my self on my navigation skills, well not any more! I have been on the start line of the swim 9 times (5 halves and 4 Ironman races) and I have never ever been so disorientated.

I swam 1km out with the bunch on my left, turned at the two buoys and was swimming back to the start line when BANG, my bunch collided with a bunch of women swimming the other way!!!  To put that into perspective, there was a 70 gap of ‘no mans land’ so I can only assume that since the women had a kayaker guiding them, we swam 70m off course. 

Mental note; next time, follow the buoys and not the bunch.

The Bike – I’ll be honest, the ride was chaos too, as we all knew it would be. The organisers had even pleaded with the 1600 athletes not to ride in bunches, YEAH RIGHT!

Once on my bike, I figured, it’s only 90km so I’d go pretty hard right from the start.  Going out was fine, a guy was following me, then we teamed up and we began jumping bunches until one bunch wouldn’t let us go.  The strange thing was, people wanted to be at the front but they had no urgency to keep making up places or catching bunches up the road.  On the way back our group got whittled down to about 10.  A few times the marshals pulled up beside us and warned us to keep our 7m distance which I thought was the correct thing to do.

It’s really hard to keep the 7m gap in a large bunch because once the leader slows down, everyone bunches up.  At about the 60km mark, a guy in our bunch was pinged for drafting   He was 2^nd in line while I was 7m directly behind him.  Admittedly, he was wheel hugging going up a slight rise, but what would have really upset the guy was all the MASSIVE bunches going the other way riding two abreast!  CRAZY!

I rolled into town with a few of the leaders from our bunch, had a pretty quick T2 for me and set off on the run. 

The Run – energy wise I felt great and I ran the first kilometre in 4mins!!! I had trained for 5min kms so I thought it wise to back off a little.  I caught a guy from our bunch and started talking to him.  Turns out he was Deano Gaskin, one of, if not the best Ironman athlete in my age group and he is from Wellington.  It must have looked funny as we were running along chatting as if we were on a training run.  He was recovering from a calf injury (runs a sub 3hr Ironman marathon) while I was happy to be in the company of such a great athlete with every 2^nd spectator cheering him on.  What it must feel like to be a famous athlete?

I stayed with him until just over half way when a mate of his ran passed so he carried on with him.  Shortly after the 15km turn around,  Andy and I caught sight of each other and smiled, as we both knew he had just over 5kms to catch me.  I dug deep and even got cheered on by a few athletes I passed.  In the end,  Andy passed me with about 500m to go, all I could do was wish him well.

In the medical tent, Andy was sitting down with an ice pack on his head. Turns out he got stung in the head by a bee as he was running down the finishing chute. Unfortunately, Andy is allergic to bee stings, some may say it was karma for passing me so close to the end, I say it was just bad luck.  Were the 31 seconds worth it Andy?  ;)

After he got stretchered off, an old friend Susie crossed the line and collapsed in the arms of two people.   That's how champions race. Turns out I got ‘CHICKED’ by 7 seconds!!!

Overall, I can walk away from this race happy and confident that the operation and all the physio work has been well worth it.  My 1.36hr half marathon was a great confidence booster.
Dear I say it, bring on next year!!!

6 sleeps to go!!!!

The last few weeks of rest were mentally hard as I was constantly tired but I know from previous years, once I got going again everything would be okay.  The Vet’s time trial on Wednesday was cancelled due to bad weather so I had to wait until Thursday to start training.  With the wind blowing a gale I could have easily stayed home Thursday night but thought I’d test my theory that I’d feel better after having done some exercise.  I had a fantastic ride through the valley and back again, almost clocking P.Bs both ways. 

The rest of the week was spent thinking about my race plan or strategies to deal with the day.

In 'Going Long' (Friel & Byrn, 2003) they say

"Ironman is a test of how much patience you are prepared to exercise" and quote Cameron Brown, the Ironman marathon is "Twenty miles of hope and six mile of reality" and say the race doesn't start until the 30km marker on the run.

Some of the analogies I know:

It’s better to be 10% undertrained than 1% over trained.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time and that’s the key to Ironman, one stroke / one revolution / one step at a time.

Don’t burn all your matches at once.  Matches = efforts and you can only put in so many efforts.  The smart athlete will save most of their matches for the later part of the day.

The trick to having a good race is to think of your energy as a full tank of gas, you want to get as far as possible as economically as possible.

Today, Andy and I biked down to Lower Hutt to get our bikes and helmets checked.  It's great to be this organised, hope the rest of the week goes to plan.

Too FUNNY!!!!!

The Cycling one



The Triathlete one

Dealing With Demons

Going into Ironman, I know I have a few demons to deal with.

Swim:

I start too hard and end up hyperventilating causing me to slow down to regain my composure. 

Goal - to start slow and ease into it.

Training - I am training to be stronger for the 2nd half of the swim.

Bike:

Again, going too hard early and smashing my quads. 

Goal - To keep my watts low and steady.

Training -  Last Wednesday I attempted the Pahiatua Loop (over the Rimutakas, up to Pahiatua, over the pass, down the coast to Waikanae and back over the Akatarawas.  Due to a broken spoke and a tyre blowing out, I only got as far as Waikanae.  I learnt that I can easily hold 225 watts for 8hrs or 240kms and my nutrition is on the right track.

Run:

Running!  After years of having to walk home due to my calves locking up, it's hard to train for something that has been physically impossible for 3 years.  I thought after my operation I would somehow be this amazing runner.  Someone forgot to tell me that I’d still need to put in A LOT of hours teaching the dormant muscles to work and getting my legs used to running again. 

Goal - To be able to run more than 30kms (that's how far I ran last year)
Training - Before I had compartment syndrome my favourite run was to Staglands and back.  I’ve always thought that once I could achieve this again, then I'd be well on the road to recovery.

 About two weeks ago I knocked the bugger off! 

I started slow and made it to Staglands.  It was easy to run 16km one way.  Once I stopped for a snack I realised just how tired my legs were and I still had to run out!  Despite having the Ironman shuffle, I managed to run the whole way out - and have a week off running.

Same Ride, One Year On.

A few years back Matt and I biked over the Akatarawa's and for some reason we decided to climb up the other side 6 times.  There's no rhyme or reason for 6 times, it's just a challenging number
physically and mentally.  Last year Andy and I did it and sadly I blew my lights on the 6^th climb.  Andy had prior commitments and I didn’t see any point in him hanging around so he left.  I sat at the top for an easy 30 minutes, eating and drinking everything I had.  Once I got my second wind I coasted down to Staglands where I bought a coke and a scone.  Sitting in the sun, I waited for my third wind and then crawled out of the Akatarawa's.

Going into this ride the thought of last year was fresh on my mind and my goal was not to blow.

	2011		2012
	Time	Watts	Time	Watts
Hill repeat 1	24.37	268	24.10	272
Hill repeat 2	24.23	271	23.04	285
Hill repeat 3	23.30	279	21.55	298
Hill repeat 4	23.08	286	22.15	301
Hill repeat 5	23.23	281	21.41	305
Hill repeat 6	28.11	228	23.18	281

Looking at my times, it certainly helped being able to chase Andy.